Alamos Schoolhouse
The Alamos Schoolhouse is an historic one-room schoolhouse now located at Lake Skinner County Park just outside of Temecula’s Wine Country in Winchester. The area of what is commonly known as French Valley was originally settled by Basque and French sheep herders. Italian-Swiss and English immigrants followed soon after. The need for a schoolhouse to educate the children grew with the population. The first Alamos School was built in 1889 and was replaced with this larger building around 1900. The school was finally closed by local officials in 1968 due to declining enrollment. The schoolhouse was moved in 1977 when the Hemet School District sold it to Riverside County. It sat empty until 1998 when it was opened to the public as a Nature and Interpretive Center for the multi-species reserve that surrounds the schoolhouse.
Winchester, Riverside County
Photographer: Jeanne Roberts